The Warning Reminds New York City What Real Rock and Roll Is

Gramercy Theater is known for bringing in a wide range of acts that attracts a shocking variety of demographics. When The Warning performed, though, we weren’t quite sure what to expect.

The Warning entered the music scene with a huge viral splash. Their Metallica’s classic “Enter Sandman” took over the Internet, attracting rock fans of all ages. Thus the band’s career lurched forward with that major shift. In fact, the cover was even featured on The Metallica Blacklsit which was an album reissue meant to honor Metallica’s self-titled album. This tour was different for the band, that’s for sure. It was one that would make or break them.

The band is a rock trio made up of three wonderful sisters — Dany, Pau, and Ale. Right away, you can probably guess what makes them stand out. Women in true rock often face a barrage of difficulties. “Since we were very young one of our biggest obstacles was definitely being young girls in the very rigorous and heavy music industry,” the band tells us.

While it’s not necessarily shocking to hear, the band’s story acts as a reminder of just how much work there is to do in this genre. However, something was notably different this time around. The audience demographic was predominately older men… AKA those who tend to be the most critical about women entering the rock scene. What made these girls different than others who have tried before them to win the hearts of rock fans?

They stayed true to the genre and let their talent speak for itself. When they take the stage, it’s like they tune out all of the nay-sayers and focus on the work at hand. The Warning reaches into the past glory days of rock and delivers a taste of that past. Those who doubt them seem to leave with a new understanding of rock music. “We love to see that mind set change in the people who listen to us,” says the band.

Each member of the band brought impeccable talent that was only elevated by obvious practice. It was clear from the moment the band took the stage that they knew how to command the attention of a packed, sold-out show at this theater. In fact, we’ve been to a lot of sold-out shows at Gramercy Theater and none of them have ever been quite as packed as this one, which means we’re shining some skepticism on all of the previous ones.

There was hardly room to move and by the time the music came on, fans were so mesmerized by the act that even thinking of getting through the crowd was a lost cause. Not that anyone would want to leave. The Warning’s shows are full of high energy, true rock sound, and inspiring music. Perhaps some of the best moments of the night were when the trio leaned into their roots.

The Warning is originally from Monterrey, Mexico. They proudly bring a bit of their home into their music, infusing some Spanish lyrics into their work. Moreover, the combination of this culture with the rock sound gives them the ability to be authentic to themselves. 

Standing out that night was lead singer Dany whose vocals stole the show. Akin to Lzzy Hale or Taylor Momsen, Dany had impeccable control over her range and a true ability to effortlessly belt out the lyrics. 

Speaking of these two artists, it was surreal for me to watch these girls on stage. Having grown up with tremendous female-led rock bands like Halestorm and The Pretty Reckless, seeing this trio on stage was something new even for me. It was striking to find out just how young they were. Dany is 22; Pua is 20, and Ale is only 17. That’s when it dawned on me: the same way certain women in rock were my inspiration, these girls were set to be the inspiration for the next generation of female rockers.

My suspicions were confirmed that night, too. After a quick restroom break, I was heading back out to the floor but almost ran into a little girl who had to be no older than 9 years old. I gave her a little wave and a smile. Her mom told her it was okay to wave back and I made a comment about how sweet it was to see kids into rock like this. Her mom informed me that The Warning was her daughter’s favorite band and she listened to their songs before bed every single night.

With that in mind, I reflected on my own origin story: dancing in the front row of a Halestorm concert at the same age. 

Dany, Pau, and Ale may not know it, but they’re changing the music scene one heart at a time. They’re tackling the rock fans of the past and ones of the future, too. While they have helped highlight Metallica’s legacy, one day their own will be remembered just the same as the rock and roll legends that they are.

What has been your biggest defining moment as a band?

We would say our biggest defining moment would be the full circle moment we had with Metallica’s Enter Sandman since our career started with a cover of that song back in 2014 and now we have our own version of the song with Alessia Cara on Metalica’s Blacklist album!

Have you ever thought about giving up on music and why?

NOPE! Of course there’s always ups and downs but we really love what we do and we couldn’t imagine doing anything else!

Take us through your song writing process.

Our songwriting process has been evolving through the years but most of the time it’s Pau who starts the song on the piano and then we all play them out together full band and work on arrangements of each instrument.

What do you hope fans take away from your new music? From the tour?

As for the take away, we love that everyone experiences music in different ways and love to hear stories about our music in people’s lives. So we hope the take away the overall feeling of the song and our love for what we do! Same with the live shows! There’s nothing quite like sharing music with a crowd ready to rock out with you!

What sets your music apart from the rest of the scene?

Well I guess ourselves as the band members! Music is a reflection of the minds who create it… and there’s no one that can write quite like each individual does, we truly believe that. So our music is focused on powerful feelings and sounds and its a mix of us three of us together, we love that!

How did it feel when MAYDAY came out and was there anything in particular you were nervous about with the release?

We were ECSTATIC of course! The release of new work is always a little nerve racking but we were more excited that nervous. As a record that was recorded during the pandemic we really had to plan accordingly to the times releasing this EP,so more than anything we were super happy that it was out and that we could give our fans new music!

What has been your favorite memory as a band and why?

I feel like our favorite moments change every time we live through something new- but we recently opened for The Foo Fighters in Mexico City and we can confidently say that it was one of the best nights of our lives! The energy was insane! Playing for 50,000 people in on of the biggest stages of our country was so mind-blowing and so incredible- it was such an amazing show that we all enjoyed and cherished so much!

What do you think makes the relationship between you and your fans unique and how do you cultivate that?

We feel that the connection that we have with our fans is really special and it’s something that we’ve built over time- It’s awesome to see how diverse our fan base is- from the places they live in to the languages they speak and the thing that unites us all is our love for music- we feel very motivated by the support we receive from our fans and thanks to social media it so much easier to reach out and connect with the people that support and follow us.